UK legal system
'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) consists of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It was established in 1801 with the union of Great Britain and Ireland, but only achieved its present form in 1922, with the partition of Ireland and the establishment of the independent Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland).'
Read more at:
A Guide to the UK Legal System (GlobaLex)
United Kingdom Law Library Guide (University of Oxford)
Image source: Wikipedia
Key databases
- BAILII : British and Irish Legal Information Institute. This link opens in a new windowBAILII, from the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, provides access to a comprehensive set of British and Irish primary legal materials, including British and Irish case law and legislation, European Union case law, Law Commission reports, and other law-related British and Irish materials.
- ICLR 4ICLR publishes case law from the Superior and Appellate Courts in England and Wales, providing the full-text of The Law Reports series (AC, QB, Fam, etc) dating back to 1865.
- vLexJustis (formerly JustisOne)vLexJustis is one of the largest digital collection of England & Wales cases. All cases are subject classified in an in-house taxonomy and cross-linked to cited and citing cases.
- Westlaw UKWestlaw UK provides access to vast and searchable databases of case law, legislation, news, legal journals, commentary, current awareness alerts and EU legal materials.
Resources
Online Resources
Print Resources
Court System
Look at the Structure of the Courts & Tribunal System (Judiciary UK), noting that the Supreme Court is the final court of appeal in the UK for civil cases.
The authorised series of law reports are The Law Reports (published by the ICLR) available only on ICLR.4 Online.
See the Lord Chief Justice Practice Direction: Citation of Authorities 2012 for a guide to the hierarchy and status of law reports, and use vLexJustis to find the citations of UK cases.
See Hein Online for English Law Reports Pre-1865, and check Monash's Legal Abbreviations guide for unknown or unusual legal abbreviations.
Law reports: A number of law reports are listed below. Check Search or the key UK databases for other report series and cases.
- Irish Reports (vLexJustis 1871 onwards)Other Irish Report series and Digests are available in vLex under Ireland > Browse by Content Type > By Report
Comprehensive guides by Jurisdiction
Comprehensive guides to the legal systems, cases, legislation and more, from Oxford University, Bodleian Law Library.